No. 8 UNC rebounds from slow start to overcome Pitt, 70-57, on the road
It wasn’t a particularly pretty win, but it was a win nonetheless.
No. 8 UNC (10-3, 2-0 ACC) defeated Pitt (9-5, 0-3 ACC) on Tuesday night, earning its second conference win and snapping its losing streak against the Panthers.
Coming into the game, Pitt had won three straight matchups and five of the last six. The win gives North Carolina a 16-8 series record and a 7-3 record on the road against Pitt.
“A lot of people don’t come into the Zoo and get wins,” said graduate student Armando Bacot. “To come into Pitt and win is big. They have a tough team. They’ve beaten us five of the last six times, so we took it personally.”
Here are three takeaways from the victory.
UNC struggles to get offense rolling
It would be an understatement to call the Tar Heels’ first five minutes a slow start. UNC missed its first 10 shots from the field, looking like it needed a shot — or three — of espresso.
Carolina is lucky the Panthers started 3-of-12 or the game could’ve quickly gone the wrong direction.
The team couldn’t even use the excuse of having time off for its slow start. Four days earlier, North Carolina thrashed Charleston Southern by 45.
Pitt deserves credit for disrupting Carolina’s offense, recording four blocks and two steals in the first 10 minutes of play.
Slow, lackluster starts have caused problems on and off this season, and it’s something the Heels need to figure out. They’re going to face teams with much better offenses and regularly coming from behind isn’t sustainable.
Hey, rebounding works
UNC’s scoring woes didn’t continue the entire game, and one really helpful contributor? Rebounding. Tar Heels coach Hubert Davis preaches rebounding in every practice and has emphasized it in just about every interview this season.
The third-year head coach likely felt some validation, as the Tar Heels logged 51 rebounds, 10 more than Pitt.
It added 10 fastbreak points, as well. Those were preceded by, you guessed it, defensive rebounds.
Seven different players grabbed a rebound, with five pulling down one each on the offensive end, ultimately leading to a more well-rounded scoring effort.
“Pitt is the best rebounding team in the ACC. For us to have a chance to get to them, we had to come up big in terms of rebounding the basketball and we did it,” said Hubert Davis. “Not only defensively, it’s the best that we’ve attacked the offensive glass. We were very active. We were tough. We were physical. Because of that physicality in the trenches, we were able to out rebound a really good Pitt team. I really think that was the number one determining factor for us being able to get a road win.”
Tar Heels finish with big accomplishments
Several upperclassmen put on big performances, despite the slow start.
With the clock winding down in the first half, senior RJ Davis hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give the Heels a lead at halftime. He also moved to No. 9 in UNC history for most career 3-pointers.
Davis’ triple gave him 198 3-pointers, surpassing his head coach (197).
Bacot added a 16-point, 10-rebound double-double to push the Heels past the Panthers. The effort landed Bacot in the 2,000-point club.
“That’s awesome. I want everybody on the team to pass me, coach (Jeff) Lebo, coach (Pat) Sullivan, coach (Sean) May,” Hubert Davis said. “I want them to break every record, and congratulations to Armando getting to 2,000 points. That’s fantastic.”
Finally, junior Harrison Ingram struggled with scoring but contributed in a big way off the glass. He pulled down a career-high 15 boards en route to the Carolina victory.
When asked what changed off the glass, Ingram said, “That definitely was me missing shots. I was just mad. I was kind of upset.”
This story was originally published January 2, 2024 at 9:40 PM.
